Display panel, manufacturing method thereof, and display device

ABSTRACT

A display panel, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device. The display panel includes a first region and a second region. The second region includes a driving circuitry layer and a first light-emitting unit located on a base substrate, the first region includes a plurality of second light-emitting units located on the base substrate, the second light-emitting unit is electrically coupled to the driving circuitry layer through a transparent conductive layer, the transparent conductive layer includes at least two conductive sub-layers laminated one on another and insulated from each other, each conductive sub-layer includes at least one transparent conductive line, and each transparent conductive line is coupled to a corresponding second light-emitting unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and is a continuation applicationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/613,173 filed on Nov. 22, 2021,which is the U.S. national phase of PCT Application No.PCT/CN2021/098115 filed on Jun. 3, 2021, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 202010511600.X filed on Jun. 8, 2020,which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of display technology, inparticularly to a display panel, a manufacturing method thereof, and adisplay device.

BACKGROUND

Full-screen is one of the important development trends of the displaypanels in recent years. For a full-screen, bezel-free display product(such as mobile phone), a screen covers an entire front surface of thedisplay product, so as to achieve a screen-to-body ratio ofapproximately 100%. In this way, it is able to improve the appearance ofthe mobile phone and provide a sense of technology. In addition, it isable to provide the mobile phone with a larger screen, so as tosignificantly improve the visual experience.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides in some embodiments adisplay panel, including a first region and a second region. The secondregion includes a driving circuitry layer and a first light-emittingunit located on a base substrate, the first region includes a pluralityof second light-emitting units located on the base substrate, the secondlight-emitting unit is electrically coupled to the driving circuitrylayer through a transparent conductive layer, the transparent conductivelayer includes at least two conductive sub-layers laminated one onanother and insulated from each other, each conductive sub-layerincludes at least one transparent conductive line, and each transparentconductive line is coupled to a corresponding second light-emittingunit.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the transparentconductive layer includes a first conductive sub-layer and a secondconductive sub-layer, and the display panel further includes asource/drain electrode layer, a first insulation layer, a secondinsulation layer and a third insulation layer. The first insulationlayer is located at a side of the source/drain electrode layer away fromthe base substrate, and the first insulation layer, the first conductivesub-layer, the second insulation layer, the second conductive sub-layerand the third insulation layer are laminated one on another in adirection away from the base substrate.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the first conductivesub-layer includes at least one first transparent conductive line, thesecond conductive sub-layer includes at least one second transparentconductive line, and an orthogonal projection of the first transparentconductive line onto the base substrate at least partially overlaps anorthogonal projection of the second transparent conductive line onto thebase substrate.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the second regionincludes a first display region and a second display region, aresolution of the first display region is higher than a resolution ofthe second display region, and a driving circuitry for driving thesecond light-emitting unit to emit light is located in the seconddisplay region.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the second displayregion is located between the first display region and the first region.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the second displayregion is arranged around the first region.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the second displayregion is arranged at a horizontal edge or a longitudinal edge of thefirst region and the first region is adjacent to the first displayregion.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the drivingcircuitry layer includes a first driving circuitry and a second drivingcircuitry, the first driving circuitry is electrically coupled to thefirst light-emitting unit located in the second display region, and thesecond driving circuitry is electrically coupled to the secondlight-emitting unit.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, a signal linecorresponding to the second light-emitting unit is arranged in the firstregion and along the edge of the first region.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides in some embodiments adisplay device, including the above-mentioned display panel.

In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides in someembodiments a method for manufacturing a display panel. The displaypanel includes a first region and a second region, the second regionincludes a driving circuitry layer and a plurality of firstlight-emitting units located on a base substrate, and the first regionincludes a plurality of second light-emitting units located on the basesubstrate. The method includes forming a transparent conductive layer onthe base substrate, the second light-emitting unit is electricallycoupled to the driving circuitry layer through the transparentconductive layer, the transparent conductive layer includes at least twoconductive sub-layers laminated one on another and insulated from eachother, each conductive sub-layer includes at least one transparentconductive line, and each transparent conductive line is coupled to acorresponding second light-emitting unit.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, prior to forming thetransparent conductive layer on the base substrate, the method furtherincludes: forming a source/drain electrode layer on the base substrate;and forming a first insulation layer at a side of the source/drainelectrode layer away from the base substrate. The forming thetransparent conductive layer on the base substrate includes forming afirst conductive sub-layer, a second insulation layer, a secondconductive sub-layer and a third insulation layer at a side of the firstinsulation layer away from the base substrate.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the method furtherincludes forming an anode layer, a light-emitting layer and a cathodelayer at a side of the third insulation layer away from the basesubstrate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiment of thepresent disclosure in a clearer manner, the drawings desired for theembodiment of the present disclosure will be described hereinafterbriefly. Obviously, the following drawings merely relate to someembodiments of the present disclosure, and based on these drawings, aperson skilled in the art may obtain the other drawings without anycreative effort.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a display panel according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is another schematic view showing the display panel according toone embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for manufacturing the display panelaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the objects, the technical solutions and the advantagesof the present disclosure more apparent, the present disclosure will bedescribed hereinafter in a clear and complete manner in conjunction withthe drawings and embodiments. Obviously, the following embodimentsmerely relate to a part of, rather than all of, the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Based on these embodiments of the presentdisclosure, a person skilled in the art may, without any creativeeffort, obtain the other embodiments, which also fall within the scopeof the present disclosure.

In the related art, a full-screen display panel is realized throughproviding a camera under a screen. Merely light-emitting units arereserved at a camera region of the display panel, and a drivingcircuitry in a same row or same column as the light-emitting units isconfigured to control the light-emitting units at the camera region.However, due to the restraint on a size of each pixel and a width of awiring region, the quantity of light-emitting units to be controlled bythe driving circuitry is limited, and correspondingly a size of thecamera region is also limited. Hence, it is difficult to meet therequirement on the use of a large-size camera.

The present disclosure provides in some embodiments a display panel.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the display panel includes a first region110 and a second region 120. The second region 120 includes a drivingcircuitry layer and a first light-emitting unit 211 located on a basesubstrate, and the first region 110 includes a plurality of secondlight-emitting units 212 located on the base substrate.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first region 110refers to a region where an under-screen camera is arranged. The drivingcircuitry layer is not arranged in the first region 110, and merely thelight-emitting unit, that is, the second light-emitting unit 212, isreserved, so as to improve the light transmittance at the first region110 where the under-screen camera is located and ensure a photographingeffect of the under-screen camera.

The second light-emitting unit 212 is electrically coupled to thedriving circuitry layer through a transparent conductive layer, thetransparent conductive layer includes at least two conductive sub-layerslaminated one on another and insulated from each other, each conductivesub-layer includes at least one transparent conductive line, and eachtransparent conductive line is coupled to a corresponding secondlight-emitting unit 212.

It should be appreciated that, the transparent conductive layer in theembodiments of the present disclosure is made of a transparent andconductive material, such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), so as to transmitan electric signal to the second light-emitting unit 212, and preventthe transparency of the first region 110 from being decreased too muchto affect an imaging effect of a camera.

In this regard, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, thedriving circuitry layer is electrically coupled to the light-emittingunit through the transparent conductive layer, the transparentconductive layer includes at least two conductive sub-layers laminatedone on another and insulated from each other, and each conductivesub-layer includes at least one transparent conductive line.

Each transparent conductive line is provided with a certain width andeach pixel is also provided with a certain longitudinal size, so thequantity of pixels in each row is also limited in the first region 110.In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the transparent conductivelayer includes at least two conductive sub-layers laminated one onanother and insulated from each other, and each conductive sub-layerincludes at least one transparent conductive line, so it is able toprovide more transparent conductive lines within a certain range in alongitudinal direction for driving more light-emitting units, thereby toenlarge the first region 110 for a large-size camera.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the transparentconductive layer includes two conductive sub-layers, i.e., a firstconductive sub-layer and a second conductive sub-layer. The displaypanel further includes a source/drain electrode layer 230, a firstinsulation layer, a second insulation layer and a third insulationlayer. The first insulation layer is located at a side of thesource/drain electrode layer 230 away from the base substrate, and thefirst insulation layer, the first conductive sub-layer, the secondinsulation layer, the second conductive sub-layer and the thirdinsulation layer are laminated one on another in a direction away fromthe base substrate.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first insulation layeris configured to insulate the source/drain electrode layer 230 from thefirst conductive sub-layer, the second insulation layer is configured toinsulate the first conductive sub-layer from the second conductivesub-layer, and the third insulation layer is configured to insulate thesecond conductive sub-layer from the electrode of the firstlight-emitting unit 211.

It should be appreciated that, one or more of the first insulationlayer, the second insulation layer and the third insulation layer may bereused as a planarization layer after planarization.

Specifically, the third insulation layer may be reused as theplanarization layer. After the formation of the third insulation layer,the light-emitting unit is formed in such a manner that an anode of thelight-emitting unit is formed on the substantially flat third insulationlayer.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the first conductivesub-layer includes at least one first transparent conductive line 201,and the second conductive sub-layer includes at least one secondtransparent conductive line 202. An orthogonal projection of the firsttransparent conductive line 201 onto the base substrate at leastpartially overlaps an orthogonal projection of the second transparentconductive line 202 onto the base substrate.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, when the orthogonalprojection of the first transparent conductive line 201 onto the basesubstrate at least partially overlaps the orthogonal projection of thesecond transparent conductive line 202 onto the base substrate, so as tomake full use of the space.

In this regard, within the same width range, the quantity of thetransparent conductive lines may be at most twice that of thetransparent conductive lines arranged in a single layer, and thequantity of the controlled second light-emitting units 212 is alsodoubled, so it is able to enlarge the first region 110.

In actual use, more transparent conductive layers, e.g., three, four ormore transparent conductive layers, may be provided according to thepractical need, so as to control more second light-emitting units 212.

As shown in FIG. 1, the second region 120 includes a first displayregion 122 and a second display region 121, and a resolution of thefirst display region 122 is higher than a resolution of the seconddisplay region 121. A driving circuitry for driving the secondlight-emitting unit 212 to emit light is located in the second displayregion 121.

Referring to FIG. 1 again, in the embodiments of the present disclosure,the first display region 122 is a conventional display region with ahigh resolution. The first display region 122 is known in the art, andthus will not be particularly defined herein.

The second display region is provided not only for achieving aconventional display function, but also for accommodating the drivingcircuitry. In other words, the first region 110 is only provided withthe second light-emitting unit 212, and the driving circuitry fordriving these light-emitting unit is located in the second displayregion 121.

In this regard, when the quantity of driving circuitries is constant ina unit area, the total quantity of light-emitting units driven by thesedriving circuitries is also constant. Some of the light-emitting unitsneed to be arranged in the first region 110, so the resolution of thesecond display region 121 is lower than that of the first display region122.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure,the second display region 121 is located between the first displayregion 122 and the first region 110. For example, the second displayregion 121 may be arranged around the first region 110. The seconddisplay region 121 may also be arranged at a horizontal edge or alongitudinal edge of the first region 110, and the first region 110 isadjacent to the second display region 121. In this way, it is able toreduce a length of the line at the transparent conductive layer.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a shape of an orthogonalprojection of the first region 110 onto the base substrate may becircular, rectangular or irregular.

Specifically, the driving circuitry layer includes a first drivingcircuitry 221 and a second driving circuitry 222. The first drivingcircuitry 221 is electrically coupled to the first light-emitting unit211 in the second display region 121, and the second driving circuitry222 is electrically coupled to the second light-emitting unit 212.

The first driving circuitry 221 is configured to drive the firstlight-emitting unit 211 in the second display region 121, and the seconddriving circuitry 222 is configured to drive the second light-emittingunit 212 in the first region 110.

In FIG. 2, a region A represents a region where merely thelight-emitting unit is arranged, a region D represents a region wheremerely the driving circuitry is arranged, and a region P represents aregion where both the light-emitting unit and the driving circuitry arearranged.

In other words, the region P in the second display region 121 is used toachieve the conventional display function, and the region D in thesecond display region 121 is used to provide the second drivingcircuitry 222 for driving the second light-emitting unit 212 in thefirst region 110, and the second light-emitting unit 212 is located inthe region A in the first region 110.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a signal linecorresponding to the second light-emitting unit is arranged in the firstregion and along the edge of the first region.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the source/drainelectrode layer 230 corresponding to the second light-emitting unit 212is arranged in the first region 110 and along the edge of the firstregion 110.

Generally, the source/drain electrode layer 230 is made of anon-transparent material, so in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the source/drain electrode layer 230 is arranged in such amanner as to bypass the first region 110.

In the second display region 121, as shown in FIG. 2, an extensiondirection of the source/drain electrode layer 230 is known in therelated, e.g., the source/drain electrode layer 230 is arranged along alongitudinal direction of the display panel. However, at the firstregion 110, the source/drain electrode layer 230 may not directly passthrough the first region 110, and instead, it passes through a wiringregion 240 at an the edge of the first region 110 so as to bypass thefirst region 110, thereby to prevent the transparency of the firstregion 110 from being adversely affected.

The present disclosure further provides in some embodiments a displaydevice, which includes the above-mentioned display panel.

The implementation of the display device may refer to that of thedisplay substrate mentioned hereinabove with a same technical effect,and thus will not be particularly defined herein.

The present disclosure further provides in some embodiments a method formanufacturing a display panel.

The display panel includes a first region and a second region. Thesecond region includes a driving circuitry layer and a firstlight-emitting unit on a base substrate. The first region includes aplurality of second light-emitting units on the base substrate. Themethod includes forming a transparent conductive layer on the basesubstrate, the second light-emitting unit is electrically coupled to thedriving circuitry layer through the transparent conductive layer, thetransparent conductive layer includes at least two conductive sub-layerslaminated one on another and insulated from each other, each conductivesub-layer includes at least one transparent conductive line, and eachtransparent conductive line is coupled to a corresponding secondlight-emitting unit.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the resultant displaypanel is specifically that mentioned hereinabove, and the involvedprocess is known in the art. The method may be used to manufacture theabove-mentioned display panel with a same technical effect, which willnot be particularly defined herein.

In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, prior to forming thetransparent conductive layer on the base substrate, the method furtherincludes: forming a source/drain electrode layer on the base substrate;and forming a first insulation layer at a side of the source/drainelectrode layer away from the base substrate. The forming thetransparent conductive layer on the base substrate includes forming afirst conductive sub-layer, a second insulation layer, a secondconductive sub-layer and a third insulation layer at a side of the firstinsulation layer away from the base substrate.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, after the formation of thesource/drain electrode layer 230, the first insulation layer forinsulating the source/drain electrode layer 230 from the firstconductive sub-layer is formed, and then the first conductive sub-layeris formed. Next, the second insulation layer for insulating the firstconductive sub-layer from the second conductive sub-layer is formed, thesecond conductive sub-layer is formed, and then the third insulationlayer is formed.

It should be appreciated that, one or more of the first insulationlayer, the second insulation layer and the third insulation layer may bereused as a planarization layer after planarization. After the formationof the third insulation layer, the light-emitting unit may be formed.

As shown in FIG. 3, at first, the driving circuitry layer is formed. Tobe specific, a semiconductor layer, a first gate layer and a second gatelayer are formed sequentially, and then EBA and EBB masking processesare performed. The EBA masking process is used to etch portions of afirst gate insulation layer and a second gate insulation layer in abending region, and the EBB masking process is used to etch portions ofa buffer layer and an etch stop layer in the bending region.

Next, an interlayer dielectric layer and the source/drain electrodelayer are formed. Further, the formation the transparent conductivelayer specifically includes forming the first insulation layer, thefirst conductive sub-layer, the second insulation layer, the secondconductive sub-layer and the third insulation layer.

Finally, the light-emitting unit is formed. To be specific, thelight-emitting unit includes an anode layer, a light-emitting layer anda cathode layer laminated one on another.

It should be appreciated that, some structures, e.g., a buffer layer, astop layer and a planarization layer, are omitted in FIG. 3. Theprocesses involved in the steps may refer to those known in the art, andthus will not be particularly defined herein.

The above embodiments are for illustrative purposes only, but thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto. Obviously, a person skilledin the art may make further modifications and improvements withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure, and thesemodifications and improvements shall also fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A display panel, comprising a first region and asecond region, wherein the second region comprises a driving circuitrylayer and a first light-emitting unit located on a base substrate, thefirst region comprises a plurality of second light-emitting unitslocated on the base substrate, the second light-emitting unit iselectrically coupled to the driving circuitry layer through atransparent conductive layer, the transparent conductive layer comprisesat least two conductive sub-layers laminated one on another andinsulated from each other, each conductive sub-layer comprises at leastone transparent conductive line, each transparent conductive line iscoupled to a corresponding second light-emitting unit, and an orthogonalprojection of each of at least part of the second light-emitting unitsonto the base substrate does not overlap an orthogonal projection of adriving circuitry for driving the each of at least part of the secondlight-emitting units to emit light in the driving circuitry layer ontothe base substrate.
 2. The display panel according to claim 1, whereinthe transparent conductive layer comprises a first conductive sub-layerand a second conductive sub-layer, and the display panel furthercomprises a source/drain electrode layer, wherein the source/drainelectrode layer, the first conductive sub-layer, and the secondconductive sub-layer are laminated one on another in a direction awayfrom the base substrate.
 3. The display panel according to claim 2,wherein the first conductive sub-layer comprises at least one firsttransparent conductive line, the second conductive sub-layer comprisesat least one second transparent conductive line, and an orthogonalprojection of the first transparent conductive line onto the basesubstrate at least partially overlaps an orthogonal projection of thesecond transparent conductive line onto the base substrate.
 4. Thedisplay panel according to claim 2, wherein the second region comprisesa first display region and a second display region, a resolution of thefirst display region is higher than a resolution of the second displayregion, and the driving circuitry for driving the second light-emittingunit to emit light is located in the second display region.
 5. Thedisplay panel according to claim 4, wherein the second display region islocated between the first display region and the first region.
 6. Thedisplay panel according to claim 5, wherein the second display region isarranged around the first region.
 7. The display panel according toclaim 5, wherein the second display region is arranged at a horizontaledge or a longitudinal edge of the first region and the first region isadjacent to the first display region.
 8. The display panel according toclaim 4, wherein the driving circuitry layer comprises a first drivingcircuitry and a second driving circuitry, the first driving circuitry iselectrically coupled to the first light-emitting unit located in thesecond display region, and the second driving circuitry is electricallycoupled to the second light-emitting unit.
 9. The display panelaccording to claim 2, wherein a signal line corresponding to the secondlight-emitting unit is arranged in the first region and along the edgeof the first region.
 10. The display panel according to claim 2, whereinan orthogonal projection of the source/drain electrode layer onto thebase substrate partially overlaps an orthogonal projection of thetransparent conductive layer onto the base substrate.
 11. A displaydevice, comprising the display panel according to claim
 1. 12. A methodfor manufacturing a display panel, wherein the display panel comprises afirst region and a second region, the second region comprises a drivingcircuitry layer and a plurality of first light-emitting units located ona base substrate, and the first region comprises a plurality of secondlight-emitting units located on the base substrate, wherein the methodcomprises forming a transparent conductive layer on the base substrate,the second light-emitting unit is electrically coupled to the drivingcircuitry layer through the transparent conductive layer, thetransparent conductive layer comprises at least two conductivesub-layers laminated one on another and insulated from each other, eachconductive sub-layer comprises at least one transparent conductive line,each transparent conductive line is coupled to a corresponding secondlight-emitting unit, and an orthogonal projection of each of at leastpart of the second light-emitting units onto the base substrate does notoverlap an orthogonal projection of a driving circuitry for driving theeach of at least part of the second light-emitting units to emit lightin the driving circuitry layer onto the base substrate.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 12, wherein prior to forming the transparentconductive layer on the base substrate, the method further comprises:forming a source/drain electrode layer on the base substrate; whereinthe forming the transparent conductive layer on the base substratecomprises forming a first conductive sub-layer, and a second conductivesub-layer at a side of the source/drain electrode layer away from thebase substrate.
 14. The method according to claim 13, further comprisingforming an anode layer, a light-emitting layer and a cathode layer at aside of the second conductive sub-layer away from the base substrate.15. The display panel according to claim 5, wherein the drivingcircuitry layer comprises a first driving circuitry and a second drivingcircuitry, the first driving circuitry is electrically coupled to thefirst light-emitting unit located in the second display region, and thesecond driving circuitry is electrically coupled to the secondlight-emitting unit.
 16. The display panel according to claim 6, whereinthe driving circuitry layer comprises a first driving circuitry and asecond driving circuitry, the first driving circuitry is electricallycoupled to the first light-emitting unit located in the second displayregion, and the second driving circuitry is electrically coupled to thesecond light-emitting unit.
 17. The display panel according to claim 7,wherein the driving circuitry layer comprises a first driving circuitryand a second driving circuitry, the first driving circuitry iselectrically coupled to the first light-emitting unit located in thesecond display region, and the second driving circuitry is electricallycoupled to the second light-emitting unit.